CHAPTER FIVE
Tate shivered before he led them a couple of steps away from the body and from where two detectives were talking. The last thing they needed was to have one of them overhear this particular discussion.
He gave Xypher a cutting grimace. "I'm getting all warm and fuzzy inside at the prospect of these demon things roaming the street, preying on us. Just how many of them are we talking anyway?"
Xypher was completely nonchalant about the tenor they were facing. "There are seven of them in existence. Only one has escaped to the human realm."
Tate locked gazes with Simone. "I love the way he says 'human realm.' "
Yeah, so did she. "I don't know. I'm still stuck on the 'they limit and kill us' part. And the 'dead walking.' I don't think I like that."
Tate snorted. "You and Nialls. I'm sure he's still having a swell time over it. Poor guy. No one's ever going to believe he's not crazy . . ." By the expression on his face it was obvious he was having a there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I moment.
Shaking his head as if to clear it, Tate turned his attention back to Xypher. "What does the Dimme want? Why is it killing people?"
Xypher shrugged. "Basic demons are interesting in that they don't usually want anything. They just are. You get in the demon's way, you die. If it has to feed and you're on the menu, it eats you. Simple, really. They're not big on playing games or having ulterior motives."
Cursing, Tate moved them even farther away from the body as a photographer came forward to take pictures. "Things don't kill just to kill. That doesn't make any sense."
"Sure it does," Xypher said dryly. "Demons were created to be weapons or tools of various entities. You have the Charonte who served the Atlanteans . . . Actually, they were one of the few demon races that weren't always subservient. Until they were defeated and enslaved, they were the masters of the earth. Then there are the gallu, who were created to fight the Charonte, and the Dimme, who were made so that if the Sumerian pantheon was destroyed and its gallu with it, they would essentially eat the world and avenge their dead masters. It's what makes the solitary Dimme so dangerous. All she knows is how to kill." Xypher cast a meaningful glance toward the dead man on the ground.
Tate didn't appear to be digesting this news well. "Are there other demons in the world?"
Xypher nodded. "Every culture has its own set of demons. But the ones I mentioned are the ones you're dealing with over this matter." Xypher inclined his head toward the body. "It's possible a gallu attacked him. But generally the gallu are a little more circumspect. They know to dispose of the body after they kill it or they keep the body to use for some purpose-like a zombie. Such as to draw out an adversary or to troll for more victims. They learned a long time ago that a zombie usually returns to its family. If they follow the zombie back, they have more food."
Tate groaned as if that knowledge pained him. "You sure?"
"Unless they're renegades. Or neophytes. Which is what the Dimme would be. She would be lost in the modern world and would be trying to find her own land. The Dimme and gallu have a hive mentality. They don't like to function independently. So whether it's gallu or Dimme, it's roaming the streets, looking for others of its kind and food . . . which would be human in nature."
Again, Tate cursed. "How long has she been out?"
"A few weeks."
"And she's just now feeding?"
Xypher laughed bitterly. "She had to get here from Vegas. I imagine there are other victims along the way."
Tate exchanged a disgusted look with Simone. "So how is it you know so much about demons anyway?" he asked.
Xypher's eyes flared to a bright, flickering red. "I am one." Tate took a step back, as did Simone. Even Jesse.
"Um, Sim," Jesse said, stepping behind her. "He can do that freaky eye thing because he's a god, right? He's just screwing with us about being a demon . . . right?"
She wanted to believe that. It made sense . . .
But every instinct in her body told her that Xypher didn't have that land of sense of humor.
Xypher's eyes faded back to that eerie blue. "My mother was a Summerian demon whom my father seduced and I was raised with her people so I have a little more insight into the gallu than most."
Simone crossed herself Was he serious? And yet she knew the truth. She just wanted to hear him say it in no uncertain terms. "You're a gallu?"
"Genetically speaking, yes. But I don't crave or live on blood. Well, my enemies notwithstanding."
He's a demon . . .
Simone didn't know why that was harder for her to accept than him being a Greek god, but it was. Probably because of the reputation demons had. The thought of being attached to one really didn't sit well with her.
She glanced at the body on the ground and shivered. Had Xypher ever done that to an innocent?
Was that why they'd killed him and sentenced him to Tartarus?
It was then it dawned on her exactly how little she knew about the creature she was now bound to. What he was capable of.
How had her life been put into his hands so callously?
Tate gestured toward the body. "Can you kill whatever did this?"
Xypher gave a subtle nod. "But why should I?"
Tate was aghast. "To stop innocent people from dying."
Xypher scoffed. "Innocent? That man on the ground was a rapist and a murderer. When you learn his identity, you're going to find that he got off light. I assure you, I would have done a lot worse to him."
"How do you know that?" Simone whispered.
He gave her a cold look that chilled her all the way to her soul. "Evil knows evil, It's how we find each other or, in the case of the Dimme, how you avoid being taken down by a more vicious opponent."
Jesse's eyes widened respectfully. "Wow. So you're like Satan's bloodhound?"
Xypher gave him a droll look. "Lucifer has his own demons he commands. I'm not one of them,"
"Great history lesson on demons and their feeding habits." Tate slapped his hands together. "So, out of curiosity, how do I write up my report? Random demon slaying? Yeah. That's going to read real well." He turned to Simone. "You think I can get a job as a janitor with a medical degree?"
She patted His arm affectionately. "I wouldn't mention the degree. It would make you overqualified. But if it makes you feel any better, I don't think you'll need a job when they send you off to Mandeville."
"Thanks, Simone." His tone was as dry as the desert. "I'll remember that next time you ask me for a letter of recommendation."
"And I'll remember that when you apply to be a janitor at Tulane. See if I help you find work."
"Ow!" Tate groused. "You're vicious."
"Hey, Doc?" An older police officer approached them. "Homicide wants to know if you're ready to wrap up and move the body."
"Yeah, we're done." He lowered his voice so that only Simone and Xypher could hear. "Random demon slaying. Maybe I should just write it lip as a mugging gone wrong." He paused and looked at Xypher. "You're sure about the cause of death?"